Paul Erdös(1913-1996)
A child prodigy, Erdos independently discovered the principle of
negative numbers around age three. Around the same time, he was able to
multiply two three-digit numbers in his head, and amuse visitors with
his ability to calculate how many seconds they had been alive. Though
he never married or had children of his own, Erdos delighted in
children and referred to them as "epsilons." Other examples of Erdos'
personalized vocabulary include referring to the Soviet Union and the
United States as "Joe" (for Stalin) and "Sam" (for Uncle Sam), calling
music, even music he liked, "noise," labeling mathematicians who had
stopped doing math as "dead" and the dead as having "left." God, in
whom Erdos did not believe, was the "Supreme Fascist" or "SF."
